The Fools
by Lacey.Y
Summary: This is an AU based on Reinhardt's Halloween story which has been adapted from the history of the witch trial in the medieval age. In the final battle, the gunslinger killed the reaper and ended his revenge formula. After that, gunslinger lived the life of vagrancy until one night the escaping witch found him, and told him a tragedy...


_**The Fools**_

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence; Major Character Death

Category: M/M M/F

Fandom: Overwatch (Video Game)

Relationship: Jesse McCree/Reaper|Gabriel Reyes; Reaper|Gabriel Reyes&Angela "Mercy" Ziegler

Characters:Jesse McCree; Reaper|Gabriel Reyes; Angela "Mercy" Ziegler

Additional Tags: McCreaper

Language: English

Summary: This is an AU based on Reinhardt's Halloween story which has been adapted from the history of the witch trial in the medieval age. In the final battle, the gunslinger killed the reaper and ended his revenge formula. After that, gunslinger lived the life of vagrancy until one night the escaping witch found him, and told him a tragedy...

Notes: Firstly, I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I'm not a native English speaker. It is my first time to write a story in English; in addition, I used a little Middle English to make the short story more authentic,but actually I'm quite lack of writing experience about that. Hope you enjoy this fic.

It was a cold fall night. Several bleak stars gleamed in the dark and prussian blue sky. The large full moon was covered by the veil of pale red light, as well as its rough edges looked like the spider's hair.

How cold tonight is. But the market square was still filled with people due to today's trial case. He walked on the street, sweeping his eyes over the assembled multitude. As two executioners with a poor, fleshless woman arrived, they were yelling and whistling:"Burn the witch!" The leader came from Church praised the gods for bringing the fire to the world, and plead for redemption in solving the Black plague, then he spoke of the woman's sins. "Burn the dreadful witch!" Again and again. Woman was bounded at the stake, from toes to hairs, a blaze engulfed her entire body.

Floating in the wind like flakes, sparks extinguished so the ashes drifted, falling on his hat and shoulders as silent as the ghost. When McCree got through the crowds, he rolled headfirst into a narrow lane and quickened his pace. At the end of this path he saw a shabby caravan with two pieces cardinal velvet curtains opening, in which an old gipsy lady was sitting alone. Older lady's hood shadowed her eyes, but McCree could feel she stared at him. She was clothed with a colorful gown. Tarot cards were shuffled by her wrinkled hands. Beneath the patched tablecloth, three burning candles were nearly snuffed out.

Among which, the magical crystal ball held tight McCree's eyes. Into the translucent crystal, he saw orange fire burning warmly without igniting.

"Gunslinger. "The fortune-teller was calling to him very softly. "Come, and pick thy cards. "

McCree hesitated, and the old woman went on talking: "Though I cannot change thy fate. I can answer thy confusion. "

"I dare not. "Gales of laughter by McCree broke out was huskily.

"If so, thou shalt send me to the stake, or tear me joint by joint. "She vowed, gazing up at him. Her yellow skin was full of freckles and wrinkles, but her eyes were so fresh. It was the most pure blue eyes he had ever seen.

"At what cost? "He said. Following her instruction, he picked three from piles of cards, by flipping them over he saw the High Priestess, the Fool...

And the Death. The skull in the picture stared at him through the vanity.

The old women seated, wordless. McCree was not a man with patience, however, at that moment, the light odour of mixed fragrance made his mind peaceful and gloomy. He gazed at the fortune-teller, but the latter was looking at the a thin twist of black smoke among the fire in her crystal.

"My homeland... "She paused for a second, "...is in another continent across the channel. I had never left it until the trial was outbroken. I was the descendant of Nymphs. In my family, all the women used to be the doctor in my old town. Ye, same with me. We protect the forest, and share nature's gifts with the local residents. I was fond of those beautiful stuffs of our forest since I was a little girl. Every morning before I open my eyes, the smell of toast and warm milk permeating the air, Squirrels knocking the cabin's window politely, and small brown deers skipping about the fence. In there, I was born, bred and married, viewing my mission as curing people's sickness. I do it well. They called me Angela, the blond Angela...Ah, the memory of my homeland is so precious, however, the good days were so short, likes sugars dissolving in the water instantly. "

Angela lowered her head, her elderly voice became lively and sweet: "Ye, thou know who am I. Please do not take thy gun, hence the time for me to finish my story is not enough."

Her only audience just yawned, then put his hands on the table. "I wouldn't hurt you." Forever, he said in his heart.

It's midnight, he was tired and hungry, so when he was finding the black smoke in the fire scattered richer and bigger, he thought it is an illusion. He rubbed his eyes, and the old witch who named Angela chuckled gently.

"Just a shadow belongs to a homeless ghost. "

"Those followers started eliminating all of the heretics. They called me the vicious witch, and burned my home, my works, what is more, they dragged up my mother's tomb, throwing her coffin in the fire and burned it again. No one stands with me, patients, kids, my husband. He left me when I own nothing. The moment I heard that he proposed to another young lady, I was wandering into the forest in despair. Suicide by drowning myself, becoming a corpse under the flowing stream. By the water's edge, I saw a mass of daffodils and elegant jessamines. A horrible dark magic I read from an ancient book suddenly emerged in my mind...I had never trusted it, however I was obsessed with the evil revenge, I picked them up, tore the petals and put the pieces into the boiled water. The last thing I discovered in the forest was a cluster of rosebay. Finally I cut a bat's fingers by using a thorn, let its blood dripping in the fatal poison. Colorless liquid turned red and solidified quickly. I disguised as a servant, involvIng in his wedding ceremony, soon I put my evil work in the bride's lip rouge case. "

Angela looked in sorrow.

"At that moment, I know the price is already marked before you using black magics. "Angela closed her eyes, strolling down memory lane: At the moment seeing the pale face of her husband's dead body, she felt a sharp pain in her belly. As a sacrifice, the devil brought the living of her kid.

"Notwithstanding I can revive all the living, nothing can make up for it...Thou think it's funny, huh?"

Angela's silver hairs trembling in the dim light of cradles.

McCree wrapped his cloak tightly. So damn peculiar, the night was so cold, he thought. And the woman told him another story.

"I ran to the southern continent for escaping...Passing by a country, in which the black plague ravaged and took thousands of lives. I saw a beheaded man and his poor handsome face was putting on the horse back. After the horse ceased, soldiers threw them to the hills of corpses. I touched his head by using my wand, through his memory, I saw a tragedy. He used to be a hero, a talented fighter,a wise general, helping his lord to build a flourishing and peaceful emperor. But the pope was afraid of him and his troop. The winds blew over from the south to this country, leaving the plague and the famine behind. The pope felt terrified. In order to consolidate the Church's position as well as removed the general, he warned people to kill the general for god's sake because the general's crucial massacre offended the gods. That's the reason the gods let him black plague struck the continent. Including the king, the superstitious people were to be moved, but still the king didn't have the heart to execute his general. He made a decision to exile the general on an island. However, the arrogant general rejected. He had been hauled off to jail because he provoked the pope. With the help of his former soldiers, he fled, became a leader of the defiance. Finally he failed and went to the guillotine. The man makes me feel pity, so I use my crystal and my blood for him to come back to life...And, thou know what's happening next. "

The general, after he was revived by the witch, he abandoned his past and became the ferocious reaper. They started a horrifying revenge formula, causing many slaughters. In the end, between the gates the old soldier, the archer and the alchemist fell down one by one. Nevertheless, the moribund gunslinger survived. Feeble, he grasped his gun and got up, shot the reaper down and the witch escaped.

Legend of the gunslinger was not over. There was a strange rumour going around the land about him: The gunslinger murdered the king and escaping from the palace now.

At that moment, the old women vanished as soon as an adorable blondie who wore a black hood seated opposite him. Her tender finger tip like the edge of a white petal of the lily, fondling the Death's skull printing in the card. A faint smile, when she saw McCree's brown eyes crossing her rose-colored lips.

She was highly familiar with the handsome gunslinger, even though it was the first time to both of them to meet each other face to face. Angela met him frequently in Gabriel's memory.

Gabriel loved the young gunslinger. She saw him through Gabe's eyes: his arrogant, naughty face, the way he riding a horse, the melting look when they fell in deep love, losing themselves in intimate contact. It was hurtful for her to think about that. In the last time they had met with each other, they had a flaming quarrel. The young gunslinger lifted his gun high over his nose, aiming squarely at his eyes. She didn't know which objection were trembling violently all the time, young man's gun or Gabe's body. Gabriel closed his eyes so she cannot see anything...When he opened his eyes again, the gunslinger had gone. Before the first time he died, the young gunslinger didn't come back any more.

Gabriel must hate him. She supposed.

"What dost thou want to say? "The witch asked him.

"You shouldn't revive him. "McCree whispered. "And you cannot love. "

He's right. Angela admitted in her mind. It's so ridiculous to be fascinated with a work she made by hand. Though Reaper gave her all his respect, and of course his life to her. A greedy beast's voice in her mind mourning loudly: It's not the stuff she wanted from him. Only one day her loyal servant lost his temper because she mentioned the gunslinger. Reaper choked her slim neck. The violence ended when she calling his name in a cracked murmur. He warned her don't mention the bastard or enter his past any more.

Gabriel must hate him. She thought. Eyes misted with her tears.

When she noticed that Reaper death again in the last battle, she burned all the rest of her crystal to find out the rest of Reaper's soul.

And she saw the gunslinger's face in the crystal ball again.

Why? Gabriel must hate him. She thought. Unable to kill the ingrate, the ghost was still tortured by pain.

The only purpose she lived in the world is relieving his soul.

"How big a fool are thou. "She sighed slightly. "I may understand his special patience for thee. "

She stared at his still face with a terrible sadness in his eyes. It's time the poison began to work out. She saw McCree frowning, breaking into a cold sweat on his forehead.

"Thou shalt die." She said, and breathing rapidly as her voice rising hysterically. "My poison penetrated thy skin and flesh when thou touched the card...Very soon, thou will feel no pain and dying silently, then he will get away from the hate thee left...Even now,thou, thou don't know the r... "

Angela was struck by a stabbing pain in her chest in a sudden. It seems an invisible hand crumbled her heart just like she was made of a fragile shell. Eventually, the dark magic asks for her life to pay for her revenge.

McCree saw the witch dropped to the bloody desk. He helped her wipe a tear from her pink eyes and close her eyelids.

He totally understood the words Angela had no chance to finish.

When Reaper was going to die, he pled to McCree set her free.

Reaper's hands was cold and hard like a piece of ice covering full of blood. He caught McCree's hand, let the gun cling to his heart. The Reaper without a head, but McCree felt Reaper was "staring" at his face. Before Reaper pulling the trigger, McCree heard he murmured weakly in a familiar voice: "Don't hurt her...she owns nothing...cannot do nothing..."

The voice which belongs to somebody he loves deeply had proved his foreboding. Maybe Reaper cannot see his face and has no memory of him. At that moment, he had thought. Reaper's bloody hand covered his face. He wanted to say something, but suddenly as Reaper pulling McCree's finger to press the trigger, his arm falling down to the dust. Sanking into the depths of sorrow and hopelessness, McCree was lying face down on the headless body.

McCree walked alone in the darkness. A large amount of blood began to spit from his mouth and nasal cavity.

Death comes. He leaned against the wall, hearing the faint sound of celebratory gunfire from far away. He put the gun in the heart.

They were so wrong, all of them. Before one shot to himself, McCree thought.

FIN

Free Talk:

They were so wrong.

For Gabe, the love from Mercy was highly different from McCree's. Her love was maternal and dependent. She knew about Reaper's past through his eyes. She thought that she was fully aware of Reaper, but she forgets the fact that she could never know the truly inside emotion of Reaper as an outsider. So it's common that she misunderstands the feeling of Reaper about McCree.

Reaper didn't share any thinking with her, that's the fault he made. He loved Mercy. The love didn't like a kind of love that he gave to McCree. Mercy is seen as a merciful host for him.

Mercy thought that he hates McCree, even when he was gone, his ghost still haunting McCree, so she made a plan to kill McCree with poison to rescue his soul. However, she didn't really know about Reaper's confusing feeling. That's the mistake she made.

McCree couldn't see their relationship clearly because he broke up with Reyes too long. The saddest part of all his life is to realize Reaper's identify when he was going to leave him again. He thought that Reaper couldn't see his face and has no memory of him. In addition, he thought that Reaper loves Mercy just like their former relationship. He knew the old woman is Angela's disguise, so when she exposed her appearance, he showd no surprise, and kept promise to Reaper.

But he was wrong.

He realized that Reaper never forget him from Mercy's words. At the end of his life, McCree knew that the relationship between Reyes and he was unique and permanent.

Finally, thank you for reading.


End file.
